Camp Mommy: Diving for Letters

This week's Camp Mommy again didn't cost us a cent. My whole set off had a wonderful forecast of weather in the high 20's and this summer really hasn't offered many days where I have been able to set up the pool in the back for the boys to play in. So I figured we would make the Camp Mommy activity center around playing in some water, enjoying the August heat.

Bug loves playing with water, so I thought it would be fun for him to retrieve things from the bottom of his pool. I already had laminated sheets made up for teaching, with 6 animals on each, one for each letter of the alphabet.

We also had a package of magnetic letters from Dollarama that we used in this diving excursion. We worked with 6 letters at a time, which meant one laminated sheet at a time. I (or bug) would throw the letters into the pool, and then Bug would jump in, ready for his water adventure. Even though he doesn't put his head under water (my eldest is such a scaredy cat), he would go through the dramatics of taking a deep breath and holding it while he knelt down to retrieve one of the letters. Once the letter was removed from the water, I got him to identify it. Then we would discuss the letter sound and try to find the animal the letter corresponded with on the sheet by saying the animal name, emphasizing the being sound of the word. Once he correctly placed the magnet, he would dive back in to do it all again. I wasn't sure if we would get through the whole alphabet, but he enjoyed it so much that I really didn't have any concern of him being bored.

After all 26 letters were cycled through, Bug still wasn't done. So I chose the letters for his name and threw them into the pool. I got him to spell his name out loud, before sending him in to retrieve each letter in correct order. Once the letter was pulled out of the water, he would place it on the ground and then tell me the next letter he needed to go find. Just a little added name practice on top of our Camp Mommy fun!

Of course, Bear is still not walking and participating in many of these activities. So instead he was all sunscreened up, with a cute little hat sitting on the sidelines doing what he does best...EATING!

After the activity, there was no reason to stop playing outside in the pool. So we invited one of Bug's friends over for some summer fun. They ended up finding some dirt, and making it into mud with the garden hose...what messy boys we have!

Putting Bug to bed that night, we discussed our day and what we enjoyed most about it. Bug animatedly said that he "loved Camp Mommy"! I still have many ideas to work through, so pending fall weather, they will continue into September!

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